We love to knit with knitting needles. We play around, discovering textures, making shapes, knitting little shoes for a new member of the family......but for Llynfi's knits, we turn to the machines.

Knitting machines were first invented in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st – they've been around for a very long time. Our domestic machines don't do the design work, or the shaping, or the thinking, but they are brilliant at knitting the stitches really fast! Which means we can make a jumper in a day, not a week.

A new piece begins with an idea – a source of inspiration. It could be a colour, a photograph, a story. Or it could even be the story of the yarn itself. For some of the current designs, it was an old enamelled brooch - a red aeroplane. We gather together images and colours, bits of yarn and fabrics – anything that helps to pull the ideas together.

Next come sketches, colouring-in on squared paper, stitch samples,tension swatches, schematics and draping fabric to work out the shapes. Yarns are dyed if needed, and at last the first garment is knitted and sewn up. Then come evaluations and modifications until we're happy that we have got the look and the fit just right.